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- Juanita Rosentreter
A LIFE STORY She appreciated simple joys in Tustin Juanita Rosentreter demanded little and got a great deal in return. She said her coupon-clipping sent her son to college. Juanita Rosentreter
Orange County Register, The (Santa Ana, CA) - Wednesday, August 4, 2004
There can be great comfort in simplicity and Juanita Rosentreter was smart enough to recognize that.
She was a woman who demanded little from life -- or from others, for that matter -- and, as a result, derived a great deal from both.
She savored the peace of her Tustin home, the reassurance of re-watching a favorite Cary Grant movie and the satisfaction of saving, as she estimated, thousands of dollars by religiously clipping coupons.
She was 86 when she died at home of cancer July 24.
Juanita was born in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in Irving. But her childhood wasn't an easy one, and she liked telling her story.
Her mother died soon after she was born, and her father, saddled with two other children, decided to give Juanita to the local druggist and his wife.
The couple wanted to adopt her and kept the baby on the pharmacy counter while they worked. To calm her cries, they gave her paregoric, an old remedy for pain and nausea made of opium. Years later, she blamed the medicine for her chronic stomach problems.
After a year, her dad took her back, but Juanita grew up under the cloud of knowing that at one point, he had wanted to give her away.
She graduated from high school and went to stenographers school.
She then came to visit her sister in Burbank and decided to stay. She went to work for H.F. Ahmanson, who owned Home Savings and Loan.
Pretty and friendly, she had lots of dates. At a Frank Sinatra concert, he even asked her for a date. She turned him down. He was too skinny, she said. Later, she became a big Sinatra fan.
She met Charles Rosentreter, a carpenter and inspector for the Santa Fe Railroad, at a party. They were married in 1949 and lived in Los Angeles, then in Pico Rivera.
When they had their only son, Juanita quit her job and became a full-time homemaker.
For the next 18 years, she was a whirlwind of activity, involved in every activity of the First Baptist Church of Pico Rivera. If there was a dinner, she was there, cooking and serving. She was in the Missionary Circle and other church groups. She served twice as PTA president.
Charles grumbled that she was never home. He often had to cook his own dinner.
But in 1968 they bought a new home in Tustin. Settling into a brand-new house was preoccupying enough for Juanita, and she abandoned all her extracurricular activities. She had, she said, paid her dues in volunteer work.
She got a real estate license and tried selling homes, but with only modest success.
Charles retired in the late '70s, and the two of them settled into a quiet life at home.
They were hardly two peas in a pod, however. Juanita was outgoing and endlessly chatty. Charles was quiet. Juanita was a political animal and a fervent liberal. Charles was a conservative Democrat. He liked to drink and smoke. Juanita did not.
Still, they lived in peaceful co-existence, watching TV, reading, doing a little traveling to visit relatives.
Juanita had lots of friends and discovered the joys of garage sales. She lit out early weekend mornings to find treasures in others' castaways and came home beaming over her finds: clothing, furniture and a huge quantity of plastic flowers, which dominate the master bedroom in large, colorful arrangements.
She lived frugally, downright triumphant over the money she saved with coupons. She said it paid for her son's college education.
And with the possible exception of her plastic flowers, Juanita never indulged in excess.
She lived a measured life, watched what she ate and rarely uttered an exclamation stronger than "Well, forever more!"
She found much to be thankful for and little to complain about.
(714) 796-6082 or
rhinch@ocregister.com
Juanita Rosentreter Born: Jan. 31, 1918, Dallas, Texas
Died: July 24, 2004, Tustin
Survivors: Son, Mike; many nieces, nephews and cousins
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1918 - 2004 (86 years)
